I’ve never been a huge fan of Elon Musk the man, but I love my Tesla and have been impressed by what SpaceX has been able to accomplish. I have a Twitter account, though I have rarely used it.
When Musk moved Tesla headquarters to Texas because he didn’t like the politics in California, it bothered me a little. Then when he announced that he was going to buy Twitter and started talking about allowing a certain unnamed ex-President back on the platform, I wasn’t happy. Musk apparently also retweeted a conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, and also tweeted that everyone should vote Republican in the midterms. Oh, and a series of children by several different women confirms that he is not the kind of person I would want to associate myself with.
And finally, for the moment anyway, when Musk took control of Twitter he gutted the company before he could even begin to understand which employees (and contractors) knew how to keep the platform running. I don’t know if it’s ignorance, arrogance, a desire to create a hard problem to solve, or all of those things, but it’s a total shitshow.
For me the outcome is that while I will still enjoy my Tesla, I will no longer recommend the brand to friends. There are other EV manufacturers out there. And while I have not deleted my Twitter account yet, I have deleted the Twitter app on my phone, requested my Twitter data (in preparation for deleting the account), and created a Mastodon account (@mweston@mindly.social).
Speaking of Mastodon, if you are interested in it, this article seems to offer a good summary. Your biggest hurdle is to pick a server. I opted for one based in the United States, since many foreign servers state that users must follow the laws of where the server operates, and I don’t feel comfortable promising to follow laws of another country without knowing what they are. I also wanted a server that was for general content rather than being specialized (e.g., technology), with a very high uptime history, with a middle of the pack number of users, and that was running a recent version of the Mastodon software. You of course may have different criteria. It is apparently possible to change servers or have accounts on multiple servers, and perhaps the most important point is that whatever server you choose, you will be able to follow (and be followed by) users on all other Mastodon servers. So don’t sweat the decision too much.
Random Musings About Running, Beer Tasting, Movies, and More 